I gave up Facebook for Lent.  Many people ask how I could not be on Facebook since I’m posting there almost every day.  Two reasons:

1) My blog, www.chrismorton.info, autoposts to Twitter and Facebook.

2) I’ve been able to use the time this has freed up to be more creative, and write more, thereby producing more of said autoposts.

Besides being more creative, spending less time on Facebook has helped with the sense of depression I often experience.  I’m not sure if there’s any scientific studies to back this up, but anecdotally, I can think of three ways social networking darkens my days.

First, there is the constant reminders of relationships you don’t have.  There’s the old friends you’ve lost touch with and the girls that got away.  They are constant reminders of brighter days and deep friendships that are now distant memories.  It makes me fantasize of what life would have been like if I hadn’t moved, had been bold enough to ask someone out or had got the job I wanted.

Second, there is a sense of social isolation.  Reading one’s Newsfeed is much like being in a room full of people, and having no one who will talk to you.  It seems like everyone else is so happy and engaged.  It seems like you are invisible to them.

Thirdly it’s just a waste of time.  Spending hours reading the status updates of people I barely know or looking at pictures of parties I didn’t go to keeps me from eating with friends, writing in my journal, working on my homework or making myself or my world a better place.

This Lenten break from Facebook has been really good thing. I’m trying to figure out how I’ll limit my usage after Resurrection Day.  Social media is a tool, but I’ve been using it like a drug.  Lent has helped me see that this is a dangerous addiction.